Join us this coming Saturday April 5th for our monthly vigil at WCDF where Way of Grace Fellowship will lead us with beautiful music by the Women’s Choir at Way of Grace led by Rev. Tita Valeriano.

There will be testimonies and elements of a “Stations of Deportations” devotion as a parallel to the Christian Lenten practice of the Stations of the Cross, where we will go through the stages an individual goes through in removal proceedings and pray for healing and for these unjust deportations to stop.

Also, join us Friday April 4 in San Francisco for a Community Wide Action to Stop the Deportations!

Obama: End the deportations! Legalization and worker’s right for all!

Friday April 4th

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

1 Post Street – Montgomery BART Station, San Francisco.

In April 2014 we will be at 2 million deportations marks since the beginning of the mass deportation programs promoted by president’s Obama administration a record in history!Through this crisis, our community has stood up to denounce the deportations and to demand to put a stop to deportation programs and for legalization. April 5th is a National Mobilization day with one clear demand: “Obama: STOP all deportations, legalization for all!”

We will be joining the rest of the country with a rally on April 4th at 11am at 1 Post SF!

We will be highlighting the stories of families and workers who have been affected by the deportation machine, e-verify and I–9 Audits!

Fantastic educational program about Earned Sick Days and Minimum Wage Increase will be presented. Rabbi Laurie hopes to see you there!

Raise Up San Diego Coalition Meeting

Join the coalition leading the struggle for Earned Sick Days and a Minimum Wage Increase

The Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee (EDIRC) for the San Diego City Council expects to take up this important issue on Monday, March 24th. The coalition will be coming together to prepare for the meeting.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

UDW Community Hall

4855 Seminole Drive

San Diego, CA 92115

Come and learn about the earned sick/minimum wage proposal.

Sign-up to join the coalition.

Participate in the committees that will help bring about earned sick days and minimum wage.

“Spirit of Life, You who are known by many names, we pray for justice for all who suffer under our immigration system. We pray that those who make decisions in our government, and those in law enforcement, will act with wisdom and compassion. We pray for reform in the immigration system so that no one will have to risk their lives in search of a better life, or live in the shadows in order to reach for what we all want – education and opportunities for our children; work with dignity and for a fair wage; living in safety and community. We pray that our undocumented sisters and brothers will not lose hope. And we pray for ourselves, that we will continue the work for justice which our faith calls us to do.

May it be so, and amen.” – Natalie da Silva (Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley)

Another Bay Area “silent raid.”

175-200 immigrant workers unjustly fired this week.

Unfortunately, despite phone calls and community attempts to pursuade ICE and the company to delay the unjust firings, until their wage theft claim was resolved, up to 40 recycling workers at Alameda County Industries were called in this week and have been told they no longer have a job. Many of them are immigrant women and had been working at the company for 7-15 years, making $8.30 an hour sorting recyclables. The workers had recently filed suit that the company was not complying with San Leandro’s Living Wage of $14.17/hour. They are part of what we believe are 175 to 200 workers in the East Bay forcibly fired this week because of an ICE enforcement tool, an I-9 Audit, on “Select”, a temporary worker agency.

We do not want to let this painful injustice go unnoticed. Please join us for a time of prayer and solidarity at a community rally with the unjustly fired workers. Many of the workers are very brave mothers who have spoken out for dignity on the job and who need our encouragement and moral support.

Not One more Unjust Firing! Join us for Prayer, Solidarity and Protest

Wednesday, March 12, at 1 PM

Alameda County Industries, 610 Aladdin Ave., San Leandro

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Next Month’s Vigil: “2 Million Too Many”

will take place in San Francisco (not Richmond)

Next month’s Vigil will be the 3rd Anniversary of our monthly vigil and it falls on the

2 Million Too Many National Day of Action organized by the Not One More Deportation Campaign, marking the 2,000,000th deportation since President Obama took office.

Because of this, we will be holding April’s (April 5th) vigil in San Francisco (most likely at the Federal Building – close to BART).

Please mark your calendars. More details coming soon!

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Last Saturday’s Vigil: Record Turnout of 125!

Many thanks to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley and the many different congregations and communities who gathered last Saturday. There was beautiful ritual, moving

testimonies from several families in CCISCO, and a drum corp! (Below you will find some photos and inspirational words that were shared.)

“We have been here for 35 months. Sadly, we still need to be here. But our presence has grown in numbers, and in our outreach to those in detention and their loved ones. We are here to bear witness to the suffering of those in detention, and their loved ones. And to make sure that their circumstances are visible, and their stories heard. And we are here to offer hope. We know that through raising our voices, individuals have been released, and reunited with their families.

Others have received legal help.

Loved ones on the outside have received emergency assistance. We know that record numbers of aspiring Americans have been deported in recent years as a result of our unjust immigration system. Families are left without a provider; children are left without a mother or father. But we will not let these individuals go un-named. Those on the inside know we are here. We tell them with our presence that they are not forgotten; that someone cares.”

The worker’s rights movement did not wait for congress to act-Our coalitions, led by the California labor movement, many faith-rooted allies and many advocacy groups, won major new protections for workers and their families, especially for immigrants. Pueblo De Fe Unido with your support worked hard for this list of victories within that broad coalition. Here are some laws new on the books, passed by the legislature and signed by governor Jerry Brown. Now we must struggle to educate people about these protections and resist the forces that will try to block and defeat enforcement.

Assembly Bill 10 (“AB 10”) increases the minimum wage from $8 to $9 an hour effective July 1, 2014, and to $10 an hour as of January 1, 2016. This marks the first increase to California’s minimum wage law since 2008. For workers required to supply their own tools, minimum wage from $16 now to $18 in 2014 and $20 in 2016.

AB 4 , the Trust Act, prohibits state and local law enforcement from detaining people for the purpose of delivering them to federal “ICE” immigration detention unless they have committed serious crimes.

AB 60 will allow undocumented Californians to apply for a driver’s license starting in 2016.

AB 241 requires that domestic workers be paid overtime (one and a half times regular hourly pay for every hour after 9 in a day or 45 in a week.)

AB 263 prohibits employers to use immigration-related threats and document re-checks to retaliate against workers for exercising their rights. The penalties include $10,000 fines and the possibility a court will suspend the offender’s business license.

AB 524 defines turning a person in to immigration authorities in order to get away with wage theft as criminal extortion.

SB 666 prohibits employers or lawyers from threats of reporting immigration status of a worker or family member in retaliation for the worker exercising labor rights or in retaliation for testifying before any public body.